The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1887-03-17

The small insect annoyances Of life sonle-
times come in the shape of a local physical
trouble, which does not amount TO positive
prostration, but which bothcrs you when you
want to feel the best. Perhaps it has been q
sick headache which has been the plague OF
your life, and you appoint some occasion OF
mirth or sociaity or usefulness, and when
the clock strikes the hour you cannot make
your appearance. Perhaps the trouble Is be-
tween the ear and the forehead, in the shape
of neuralgic twinge Nobody can see it or
sympathize with you, but just at the time
when you want your intellect clearest and
your disposition brightest you feel sharp,
keen, disconcerting thrust. The Lord sent
the hornet.
Perhaps these small insect annoyances will
come in the shape of a domestic irritation.
Tho parlor and the kitchen do not always
harmonize To get good service and to keep
it is one of the great questions of the country.
Sometimes it may be the arrogancy and in
considerateness Of employers; but whatever
be the fact, we all admit there are these in
sect annoyanccs winging their way out from
tie culinary department. If the grace Of
God be not in the heart of tho house
keeper, she cannot maintain her equili-
brium The men come home at night and
hear the story Of these annoyances, and say,
A'Ohl these home troubles are very little
thingsn They are small, small as wasps, but
they sting. Martha'S nerves were all un-
strung when she rushed i'll asking Christ to
reprove Mary, and there are tens Of thou
sands Of women who are dying, stung to
death by these pestiferous domestic annoy
ances. The Lord sent the hornet.
These small insect disturbances may also
come in the shape of business irritatiOns
There are men here who went through 1857
and Sept. "a, 1869, without losing their bal
ance, who are every day unhorsed by little
annoyances-a clerks il: manners, or blot
of ink on a bill Of lading, or the extravaganza
Of partner who overdraws his account, Or
the underselling by q business rival, or the
whispering of business condolences in the
street. or the making of some little bad debt
which was against your Judgment, just to
please somebody else. 1t is not the panics
that kill the merchants. Panics come only
once in ten or twenty years. 1t is the constant
din of these everyday annoyances which is
sending SO many of our best merchants into
nervous dyspepsia and paralysis and the
grave When our national commerce fell fiat
on its face these men stood up and felt almost
defiant; but their life is giving way now
under the swarm of these pestiferous annoy
aQCeS. ne lIOlu Senb Juo uOTneU.
/ have noticed in the history of some of nv
congregation that their annoyances are null
tiplying, and they have = hundred where they
used to have ten. The naturalist tells us that
a wasp sometimes has a family of 20, ,OOC
wasps, and it docs seem as if every annoyance
of your life bred million. By the help OF
God to-day want to show you the other side
The hornet is of no usei Oh, yest The natural
| lists tell US they are very important in the
worlds economy; they kill spiders and they
clear the atmosphere; and really believe God
sends the annoyance of our life upon US to Kill
| the spiders Of the soul and to clear the atmos
| phere of our skies. These annoyances are
sent on us, think, to wake us up from ou1
lethargy. There is nothing that makes man
SO lively as nest Of "yellow jackets" and ]
think that these annoyances are intended tx
! persuade us of the fact that this is not worlC
for us to stop in. If we had q bed of every
thing that was attractive and soft and easy
what would we want of heaven ? You thnl
that thehollow tree sends the hornet, or yor
think the devil sends the hornet. l want tt
correct your opinion. The Lord sent thu
| hornet.
Then l also think these annoyances comi
upon us to culture our patience In tht
gymnasium you find upright parallel bars
bars with holes over each other for pegs to bt
put in. Then the gymnast takes a peg il
each hand and he begins to climb one inch a
a time, or two inches and getting his strength
cultured reaches after q while the ceiling
And it seems to me that these annoyances il
life are moral gymnasium, each worry
peg by which we are to climb higher anC
higher in Christian attainment. We all low
to see patience, but it cannot be cultured il
| r-s.. A. = =, IL, II Ix.f
you had everything desirable and there wa
nothing more to get, what would you wan
with patience? The only time to culture it i
when you are slandered and cheated, anC
sick and half dead "Oh," you say, "if
only had the circumstances of some well to d.
man l would be patient too" You might a
well say, "If it were not for this water
would swim;' or, II could shoot this gun If i
We're not for the caps"
When you stand chin deep in annoyances
the time for you to swim out toward th
great headlands of Christian attainment, ant
when your life IS loaded to the rnuzZle witt
repulsive annoyances-that is the time t
draw the trigger. Nothing but the furnac
will ever burn out of us the clinker and th
Stag have formed this theory in regard t
small annoyances and vexations: 1t takes jus
SO much trouble to fit us for usefulness an
for heaven. The only question is, whethe
we shall take it in the bulk, or pulverized an
granulated. Here is one man who takes
in the bulk. His back is broken, o
his eyesight put out, or some othe
awful calamity befalls him; while tn
vast majority of people talle the thin
piecemeal. Which way would you rathe
have it, OF course in peacemeal. Bette
have five aching teeth than one broken jaw
Better ten fly blisters than an amputatior
Better twonty squalls than one cyclone. Their
may be a difference of opinion as to allopath
and homeopathy; but in this matter G
trouble l like homeopathic doses-sma
pellets of annoyance rather than some knoc
down dose of calamity Instead of tn
thunderbolt give us tho hornet.
If you have bank you would a great dea
rather that fifty men should como in wit
checks less than hundred dollars than t
have two depositors come in the same da
} each wanting his ten thousand dollars /
this latter case, you cough and look down O
the floor and up at the ceiling before you loo
into the safe. Now, my friends, would yo
not rather have these small drafts of annoy
ance on your bank of faith than some al
staggering demand upon your endurance?
, want to make you SO strong that you will M
surrender to small annoyances. In the vi
lage of Hamelin, tradition says, there was e
, | invasion of rats, and these small creatures q
most devoured the town and threatened tI
| lives of the population, and the story is that
= piper came out one day and played a yer
> sweet tune, and all the vel1nin followed hil
, followed him to the banks of the Wese
t and then he blew a blast and they droppe
= in and disappeared forever
OF course this is a fable, but wish l coult
S on the sweet flute of the Gospel, draw fort
: all the nibbling and burrowing annoyance
v of your life, and play them down into Il
, depths forever. How many touches did Il
artist give to his picture of "Cotopaxi," {
Q his Heart of the Andes?" l suppose abol
3 $1,000 touches 1 hear the canvas saying
g "Why do you keep mo trembling with thu
Q pencil SO longl Why don't you put it on
8 one dashl" NO" says the artist, 'I kno
o how to make painting; it will take $4,000 {
4 these touches" And want you, my friend
t to understand that it is these 10000 ammo
y ances which, under God, are making up Il
i: picture of your life, to be hung at last in tt